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by Ada Stewart SHELTONf. 



EASTER LILIES 



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ADA STEWART SHELTON 



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MAR 18 J8S2 



W,1SH{-^GT0H 



NEW YORK 
JAMES POTT & CO. 

14 AND 16 AsTOR Place 



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Copyright, 189a, 
By JAMES POTT & CO. 



Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
Aster Place, New York 



EASTER LILLIES. 

ONE EASTER LILY'S MISSION. 

The first faint flush of the fair Easter 
dawn 
Touched with its tender light a lily's 
face, 
So pure and fair that one would scarce 
believe 
It could find life in such a dreary 
place. 

High up amid the roof-tops crowded 
close 
Of wretched dwellings, stairways lead- 
ing in 



To darkened alleys, there the fair flower 
grew, 
O'erlooking want and misery and sin. 

" My sisters sweet and fair will hail this 
morn; 
Within the churches' walls, wuth win- 
ning grace. 

They will proclaim to-day the Easter 

joy; 

E'en on the altar they will find a 
place. 

'* What part is given to me this Easter 
Day? 
In all its gladness I can have no 
share ; 
For even those who watch my leaves 
unfold 
Do scarcely know the day whose name 
I bear." 



Soon one drew near whose touch was 
coarse and rough, 
Withal the heart that guided it was 
kind ; 
" The child that moans below shall have 
my flower, 
Maybe 'twill bring some comfort to 
her mind." 



Down the steep stairway, through the 
alley dark, 
Was the white lily carried, oh, so fair ! 
It seemed in passing through the dreary 
place 
To leave a benediction on the air. 



Within a wretched, comfortless, dim 
room, 
Moaning with pain, with fever's vague 
unrest, 



A young child lay ; with smile of radiant 
joy 
She clasped the Easter lily to her breast. 

"Oh! is it really mine?" she mur- 
mured low, 
*' It almost takes the pain ; " the fair 
flower lay 
Close, closer pressed within that burning 
hand, 
Until at night both lives had ebbed 
away. 

Sweet was the life that the fair lily gave, 
Though in the church's beauty she had 
borne no share ; 
Lowly the work that waits in many a 
path, 
Rich are the blessings that lie hidden 
there. 

Ada Stewart Shelton. 



^ 



AN EASTER OFFERING. 

" Neither will I offer unto the Lord my God that 
which doth cost me nothing.'" 

Within a crowded dwelling-place, 

Climbing its narrow stair, 
A little maid is toiling slow, 

Who in her hand doth bear 
A jug of water, which she guards 

And holds with anxious care. 

Slowly she climbs the stairway dim, 
So narrow, steep, and high, 

To where her little window looks 
Out on a patch of sky ; 

And o'er a flower upon its ledge 
She bends with loving eye. 



The only treasure that is hers ! 

She dreams of it by night, 
Guards it by day ; the blue eyes watch 

Its opening to the hght. 
Was ever lily seen before 

So pure, so fair, so white ? 

Soon, very soon, is drawing near 

The blessed Easter Day, 
When from a grateful, loving heart 

We give our best away. 
What offering could the dear child make ? 

She ponders day by day. 

Such scanty earnings naught could yield, 
From them she fears to take ; 

But there upon the window-ledge — 
Oh ! can she, can she make 

Such sacrifice, and give her flower 
For Easter — and His sake ? 



The glad-voiced bells are chiming clear, 

The dim-lit church is sweet 
With font and chancel filled with flowers, 

This Easter morn to greet, 
When up the silent aisle there comes 

A child with faltering feet. 



Softly the notes from organ grand 
Are stealing through the air ; 

Beneath the Altar's gleaming cross 
She lays the lily fair, 

And then all timidly she kneels, 
And clasps her hands in prayer. 



** 'Tis all I have," she murmurs low, 
" Dear Lord, to give to Thee, 

And so I bring this flower I love. 
An offering from me ; 

For on this holy Easter Day 
Thy child I pray to be." 



Amid the throng at service hour, 
In anthem, chant, and hymn, 

One sweet voice rang, until it made 
The older eyes grow dim ; 

They did not know what filled her heart 
With gladness to the brim. 

The best that it was hers to give, 

That she had given away ; 
Not " that which cost her nothing," but 

What nearest her heart lay. 
Lord, grant that we may also give 

Our best on Easter Day. 



